"In 1967 when I first came to India, I brought with me a supply of
LSD, hoping to find someone who might understand more about these
substances than we did in the West. When I had met Maharajji(Neen
Karoli Baba), after some days the thought had crossed my mind that he
would be a perfect person to ask. The next day after having that
thought, I was called to him and he asked me immediately, "Do you
have a question?"

Of course, being before him was such a powerful experience that I
had completely forgotten the question I had had in my mind the night
before. So I looked stupid and said, "No, Maharajji, I have no
question."

He appeared irritated and said, "Where is the medicine?"

I was confused but Bhagavan Dass suggested, " Maybe he means
the LSD." I asked and Maharajji nodded. The bottle of LSD was in the
car and I was sent to fetch it.

Bhagavan Dass

When I returned I emptied the vial of pills into my hand. In
addition to the LSD there were a number of other pills for this and
that--diarrhea, fever, a sleeping pill, and so forth. He asked about
each of these.

He asked if they gave powers. I didn't understand at the time and
thought that by "powers" perhaps he meant physical strength. I said,
"No." Later, of course, I came to understand that the word he had
used, "siddhis," means psychic powers. Then he held out his hand for
the LSD. I put one pill on his palm. Each of these pills was about
three hundred micrograms of very pure LSD--a solid dose for an adult.
He beckoned for more, so I put a second pill in his hand--six hundred
micrograms. Again he beckoned and I added yet another, making the
total dosage nine hundred micrograms--certainly not a dose for
beginners. Then he threw all the pills into his mouth. My reaction
was one of shock mixed with fascination of a social scientist eager
to see what would happen.

He allowed me to stay for an hour-- and nothing happened. Nothing
whatsover. He just laughed at me.

The whole thing had happened very fast and unexpectedly. When I
returned to the United States in 1968 I told many people about this
acid feat. But there had remained in me a gnawing doubt that perhaps
he had been putting me on and had thrown the pills over his shoulder
or palmed them, because I hadn't actually seen them go into his mouth
and had thrown the pills over his shoulder or palmed them, because I
hadn't actually seen them go into his mouth.

Three years later, when I was back in India, he asked me one day,
"Did you give me medicine when you were in India last time?"

"Yes."

"Did I take it?" he asked. ( Ah, there was my doubt made
manifest!) "I think you did."

"What happened?

"Nothing."

"Oh! Jao!" and he sent me off for the evening.

The next morning I was called over to the porch in front of his
room, where he sat in the mornings on a tucket. He asked, "Have you
got any more of that medicine?"

It just so happened that I was carrying a small supply of LSD for
"just in case," and this was obviously it. "Yes."

"Get it," he said. So I did. In the bottle were five pills of
three hundred micrograms each. One of the pills was broken. I placed
them on my palm and held them out to him. He took the four unbroken
pills. Then, one by one, very obviously and very deliberately, he
placed each one in his mouth and swallowed it-- another unspoken
thought of mine now answered.

As soon as he had swallowed the last one, he asked, "Can I take
water?"

"Yes."

"Hot or cold?"

"It doesn't matter."

He started yelling for water and drank a cup when it was
brought.

The he asked," How long will it take to act?"

"Anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour."

He called for an older man, a long -time devotee who had a watch,
and Maharajji held hte man's wrist, often pulling it up to him to
peer at the watch.

Then he asked," Will it make me crazy?"

That seemed so bizzare to me that I could only go along with what
seemed to be a gag.

So I said, "Probably."

And then we waited. After some time he pulled the blanket over his
face, and when he came out after a moment his eyes were rolling and
his mouth was ajar and he looked totally mad. I got upset. What was
happening? Had I misjudged his powers? After all, he was an old man
(though how old I had no idea), and I had let him take twelve hundred
micrograms. Maybe last time he had thrown them away and then he read
my mind and was trying to prove to me he could do it, not realizing
how strong the "medicine" really was. Guilt and anxiety poured
through me. But when I looked at him again he was perfectly normal
and looking at the watch.

At the end of an hour it was obvious nothing had happened. His
reactions had been a total put-on. And then he asked,

"Have you got anything stronger?" I didn't. Then he said, "These
medicines were used in Kulu Valley long ago. But yogis have lost that
knowledge. They were used with fasting. Nobody knows now. To take
them with no effect, your mind must be firmly fixed on God. Others
would would be afraid to take. Many saints would not take this." And
he left it at that.

*******

When I asked him if I should take LSD again, he said, "It should
not be taken in a hot climate. If you are in a place that is cool and
peaceful, and you are alone and your mind is turned toward God, then
you may take the yogi medicine."